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Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Douglas Development shows new rendering for old Relic building in Bethesda (Photo)

A relic of the pre-Hans Riemer "nighttime economy" disaster, the building that housed the now-shuttered Relic Lounge, is getting another makeover via a new rendering from owner Douglas Development. The D.C. real estate firm is showing a potential restaurant space on the ground floor, and office space upstairs.

The building is located at 4936 Fairmont Avenue, a block left dead at night after the closure of Relic. Completion of the 7770 Norfolk apartment tower has brought some life to that end of the block, but the failure of the Bainbridge Bethesda to attract dining or nightlife tenants to their ground floor has left the bulk of the street in shadow after hours.

Getting a nightclub or big restaurant name into the old Relic building is therefore more important than ever, especially since Riemer's nighttime economy debacle resulted in the closure of 10 nightclubs and bars in downtown Bethesda. In a town now suffering from the post-Riemer darkened, deserted streets after 10:00 PM, this street is one that should have been revived by now.Rendering courtesy Douglas Development

67 comments:

Suze
said...

I don't think you can blame Fairmont on the Council, since various parts of the block have been under construction for half a decade. Positanos has managed to survive, as have some of the other small businesses, but its not surprising to me that a nightclub didn't make it through.

There's also the question of whether Bethesda actually wants a nightclub. Parva and Relic both closed, and nothing else can really be called a "nightclub". You can have a nighttime economy without velvet ropes and bottle service.

8:16: That sounds a lot like the new talking points from the MoCo political machine. Nighttime economy initiative fails? Move the goalposts. Before: "We need to attract millennial professionals with nightlife." After: "We don't need those damn millennials, anyway."

Meanwhile, NoVa and D.C. are cleaning our clock. Of course, what Riemer didn't understand is that you also need the plum jobs to attract millennials, which D.C. and NoVa have. We haven't attracted a major corporation to MoCo in two decades, so pretty understandable that millennials would rather go elsewhere.

Definitely not part of the MoCo political machine, just someone who has lived and/or worked in Bethesda for 30 years. And one of those "damn millennials" to boot! I have never thought of Bethesda as the place to go out clubbing, that's what DC is for. Bethesda does have some good bars though, and I've happily spent Friday and Saturday nights eating and drinking in those establishments. Again, not sure why nighttime economy depends on clubs - Rock Bottom, Tommy Joes, Caddies, Brickside, and Sapphire all seem to be holding their own. For us older millennials, Olazzo, Barrel & Crow, and Gringos are welcome additions (or mainstays) to the Bethesda scene.

As for "not needing millennials" - according to census data we actually do have a healthy proportion of millennials here in Bethesda thanks in large part to the market affordable housing offered by Aldon Management. People in my generation live here, work here, eat here, and shop here. They might choose to spend their weekend nights in DC, but they spend plenty of time in Bethesda as well.

And while a major corporation would be a boost to MoCo's economy, and we need to work on that, small businesses are what is driving the economy and the job market now, and we have plenty of those here in Bethesda. (We have a good number of mid-size businesses as well. The building I used to work in has several that each employ 80 or more employees, many of them millennials.)

Tapp'd isn't a club - it's more of a gastropub/restaurant. You can try to pin the closures on various excuses, but if the businesses had been profitable, they wouldn't have closed, would have been sold to an eager new owner, or would have moved successfully (as Tommy Joe's did, which is not on my closure list).

Tommy Joe's was booted by "landlord," but was popular and made the move, so that proves that a viable nightspot doesn't disappear just because of landlords.

I didn't have Hard Times or Steamers on my original list because they could go either way. Parker's was much more bar than restaurant, with very loud, live music late at night. Basically the only life after 10 PM at Bethesda Row, which is why Bethesda Avenue is now dead at night.

As a millennial, I would offer the nighttime moribundity(?) would be more attributable to the lack of affordable housing, rise of Uber as a good transportation option, and rise of D.C. neighborhoods where I used to be afraid of being shot and now love going out to and know many friends who live there now where before they wouldn't even consider it.

6:57: You probably were at Parker's earlier in the day, then. Most definitely a bar vibe with very loud music at night on weekends.

6:59: If Ri-Ra had been successful, they would have had no problem selling it to another owner.

6:38: That's only if you're subscribing to the new, revised definition of nightlife. The MoCo cartel's new definition includes drinking a rum and Coke at the bar in Red Lobster as "nightlife." And I'm being deadly serious.

Meanwhile, millennials are lining up at Echostage, 18th Street Lounge, The Living Room, Sax, Russia House, etc. for what passes for real nightlife in the area.

7:03: You're right, Riemer is hardly ever in Bethesda. The only 2 times I've ever seen him here were a fundraiser he held at BlackFinn, and his Ride On bus tour of Westbard. Not surprising for a carpetbagger who needs a GPS to find his way around the County. That's why I've had to solve everything in Bethesda myself, because we don't have a single councilmember from Bethesda currently.

7:28: Sorry your mom doesn't let you go out after 8:00. No wonder you're pleased with Helpless Hans' new definition of nightlife. Bad wedding band playing Dave Matthews while you drink Coors Light is not millennial nightlife.

7:29: Parva, Union Jack's and Relic were nightclubs. The rest were bars/nightspots. All closed.

8:05: The way it was worded - suggesting Riemer had never claimed to be an expert, along with the misspelling of my name - I thought it was an attack. It could be interpreted both ways. If it wasn't an attack, I apologize for the misunderstanding. Taking a lot of incoming here from the troll.

Seriously. I get that people troll the guy, but come on. He treats his readers like garbage. I'll occasionally check in on what's going on here, but then remember why I stopped and leave. Take a queue from other blogs like Popville. That guy isn't a jerk to people that read it.

9:39: No, it's definitely not understandable why somebody would be attacking someone who is engaged in the community and trying to solve problems. Of course, in reality, the attacks are evidence that I'm getting things done. Nobody wastes time attacking irrelevant people. If you don't have enemies, you're not getting anything done.

Riemer did set himself up as the guru of late night - and open data, and food trucks, and liquor, and sidewalk shoveling, and cybersecurity, and, and and - every single one of them was a complete disaster.

9:47: Dealing firmly with a troll is not "treating readers like garbage." I won't hesitate to take out the trash or return fire when attacked by a paid troll from a developer or the Council. "Your blog is crazy because I'm crazy and I post crazy troll comments on it all day and all night."

@ 6:41 "As a millennial, I would offer the nighttime moribundity(?) would be more attributable to the lack of affordable housing, rise of Uber as a good transportation option, and rise of D.C. neighborhoods where I used to be afraid of being shot and now love going out to and know many friends who live there now where before they wouldn't even consider it."

That's a really good observation. I used to live in Bethesda, but when I decided it was the right time for me to buy, I really didn't even considering buying there. Could get a better deal for my money in one of the up and coming neighborhoods of DC. I'd say more of this is driven by the overall trend of more younger people choosing the city over the suburbs. Even if I had stayed in DC, with Uber I'd probably spend more time in DC as friends are there, and there's just more to do (not even talking about nightclubs).

Actually, I wouldn't say I get better services in DC. My trash isn't always picked up, its not like our school system is fantastic, and there's plenty more I could gripe about. To me, and many others lately, it's just more interesting to live in a city than the suburbs.